Hell Is Empty, The Devil Walks
by Lexiimakay16
Summary: Raina is a mythical creature that no one has remembered since the time of her Family's massacre at the hands of the Guardians, and the counsel. She is an Inferno; a manipulator of fire and has been said to have thrown the Devil himself off his throne. So why are the Guardians asking for her to join them? All she knows is Jack Frost shouldn't be the one asking. JackxOC
1. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

"Raina Ember, you and your family have been accused of the following crimes-" North stood in his chair twenty feet above me, surrounding him was the other three guardians, as well as the groundhog, Father time and Cupid. They were considered our government, and the closest things to the law we had in the mythical realms.

"Crimes?" I demanded pulling on the shackles around my wrists. "I haven't done anything outside of tradition!"

North continued as if I hadn't spoken. "The manipulation and murder of innocent humans. Souls tortured and left to walk the earth without rest. Creating wreckage and carnage. Kidnapping of the innocent-"

I slammed my fist on the table, the booming of the sound caused him to pause and look up at me. "What about _your_ crime?" I demanded. "We have walked this earth for thousands of years and you just randomly decided to massacre my entire family?!"

North looked to Father Time who sat to his left, the old white haired man leant forwards. "Raina, we are sorry for your loss, we are willing to offer you an agreement in which you may continue on in the world, we don't want you to have to suffer the same fate as your parents, or anyone else in your family." I watched as he leant back in his chair and pulled out what looked to be a freshly written scroll. "You will be stripped of your Inferno status."

"What?"

"Meaning you will no longer share the power to control humans, and you will no longer possess the alluring appearance or the manipulative aura your kind have. No human will fall to your mercy at the sight of your eyes or be under your control by the sound of your voice." I stood from my chair the shackles keeping me from going any further. "We will also be taking away the weapon forged for you by your parents. What will remain is your ability to fly and manipulate fire, but should they be used in any harmful way towards the human world you will be returned here and sentenced for all and any crimes you may commit, or have committed."

I pulled on the chains, I wanted to kill him, I wanted to burn the place to the ground but I was being rendered powerless in the courtroom. "You can't do that!"

"You will be given a new task to perform, one in which brings joy and hope to the world. You will fly through the night sky, and you will be perceived as a shooting star, this will be a condition so we can monitor you each day to avoid anyone attempting to frame you. If there is a mass fire in one city, we can check where you were when the fire occurred." They couldn't have been being serious, they were going to monitor me like a hawk. "If you agree to our terms, you will have limited freedom, but you will be free to live your life, alive. Do you agree to these terms?"

I looked around at those in the room, anger boiled up inside me, and in fury I spit on the table before me. "You cannot sentence me! I am doing nothing but what my heritage allows me. Pitch creates nightmares and I don't see any of you attempting to kill him!"

Bunny stood, his temper was getting the better of him."Your family kill innocent men and women. Although you are nothing but a corrupted innocent yourself, you still did the same horrid acts your family did. If it were my choice you would suffer the same fate, or be locked up in an ice block for the rest of your life! But we are trying to be merciful."

"Mercy? Is that what you think you're showing me? The only reason I am alive is because I wasn't there! If I had been, you would have killed me along with my family, and because you accidentally missed one, you think that bringing me here and offering me a deal no different than imprisonment, is mercy?" I demanded.

North put a hand on Bunny's shoulder coaxing him to sit down. "The Infernos have been causing corruption-"

I burst into a fit of rage."Why is that for you to decided? We are from completely different realms of the world. We are Roman myths that place judgment on people and you're holiday characters that break into children's houses."

North's eyes turned from a clear deep blue to a clouded haze "Our job is to protect children."

"What does it have to do with me?"

"When A child's family member doesn't return from sea then that causes them pain then it becomes our business."

I sat down in my chair, staring him straight in the eyes. I wanted him to know, I wanted him to know that he was a murderer, that killing my family was no different than killing humans.

"Thousands of years, and it's all of a sudden your business? Because it's a little odd to me, we're not the only beings that can die, yet in 600 years we're the only ones to be attacked. Why not the Sirens? Huh? Beautiful man eating singers? Or maybe the leprechauns? Drunken thieves. The Mermaids are idiots! They've caused more ships to get lost than any of us. Thousands of years North. Longer than you've been alive, we have been living the only lives we know how to live, and you killed us. You and everyone else in this room are just as much a murderer as any Inferno was."

The rooms was silent, but they were not thinking about the words I had said, there was no change in the thoughts in their heads. They saw me as nothing but a dangerous murderer, and if I died or live it didn't matter to them, they were trying to make a dramatic gesture over giving me a choice. The rest of the world would see them as merciful and wonderful human beings for letting the young Inferno live, they were narcissistic, and they were selfish.

Cupid was the next to speak, his ludicrous red hair and pink eyebrows were so bright it made my eyes tired, "Raina, your choices are to accept our terms and walk out of this building alive, or to be given the same punishment, but never walk out of here again."

I glanced over the panel one more time before I spoke. "My family is dead, I am the only Inferno left. You can kill the creatures, but you will never kill the legend. Despite what you may think, my parents loved me, and they would never want to see me die, for them I am going to live. Give me the damn scroll." It floated from Father Time's hands, landing on the desk before me along with some ink. I took my finger, still burning from the fire within me, I touched it to the scroll and burned my signature in.


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

When things go wrong, people claim that their world goes up in flames. That was not the case for me, my world became cold, distant and barren. A realm that was once filled with fire and burning hot rock was nothing but blackened coal and ash. The cobble stone steps leading to the fiery gates had been coated with ice, and the gates were frozen shut with frost, and there was nothing beyond them anymore.

Many others likes to joke that our realm was nothing more than another layer of hell, but no one else aside from my family had ever been so lucky to have entered before, until that one fatal day. They killed them. Every. Single. One.

I was the only one left when I came to find their bodies turned to nothing but ash, and their fire's extinguished, I had barely even stepped foot in the gate when I was taken hostage.

I had only ever seen one book about my kind, and it was over 200 years ago, back when there were still myths about us and what we could do. The legend spoke of a species so beautiful that sailors and travellers were captivated by their beauty, and they fell into a trance like state where they would do anything the creature requested, including sacrificing themselves.

In the book I had read, there was a quote from a man who claimed to have seen us

 _I would have thought they were angels, had I not been looking into the face of the devil. Their beauty was beyond compare, with pale skin, amber glowing eyes and a sinister perfect smile, they floated over the water, they moved like lightning and their laughs echoed like songs over the water. With one look they had pierced my soul and when they spoke I wanted to listen to it for the rest of life. They demanded us to complete tasks and we were helpless to chose otherwise, they spoke to us of how we would die, and not a soul on that boat cared so long as we pleased them._

 _They manipulated and conjured fire from mid air, they burnt our ship to ash and left us all for dead in the Ocean then retreated into the sky like shooting stars._

 _They were forged from the fires of hell, and I never believed in the devil until I looked directly into it's eyes._

It was the most accurate representation of us I had ever heard.

There was a common misconception, confusing us with mermaids, the truth was that when the mermaids caused ship wrecks it was because they actually did not know which way to send the sailors. When we caused ship wrecks it was out of joy, and the need to keep their experiences with us a secret.

But those fucking guardians had taken it all away, they murdered my family, they stripped me of my powers and kept me on a short chain. They took away not only my family's life but my life, and I vowed that the Inferno's would rise again as they dumped me into the world. Only problem was I was the last soul living one, and there was no chance of another Inferno just appearing in the world.

I had been making my usual rounds for the day, when I felt a sudden drop in temperature where it was meant to be May.

I paused in mid flight and fell to the earth, there was not a human in sight on the street and it gave me an eerie feeling to see that the streets were so abandoned and dead at this time of night.

"I thought I smelled BBQ." I knew the voice all too well, hovering above me was the famous Jack Frost, leaning on his staff, a smile on his face.

"I should have known you'd still be hanging around this place Frost bite." Over the past few years Jack had taken quite an interest in this little town, for reasons unknown but he was surprisingly content to stay in one place for an extended period of time.

"Actually." He said floating down to stand in front of me. "I've been spending a lot of time in the North pole."

"Voluntarily?" He chuckled and nodded. "And North is actually okay with that?"

"Kind of has to be. I'm a Guardian."

"A guardian of what?' He laughed spinning his staff around in his hands.

"You know, kids, their dreams." I raised an eyebrow at the white haired boy, Jack and I never really got along, we loved to hate each other, it was a terribly cliche rivalry with Ice and Fire, but the truth was we fought because of how he used to mess with the Inferno clan. He would freeze ships so they stood still in the water, and attempt to freeze us in blocks of ice, and there was a

rumour going around that he was apart of the army that took down my family, although that was just a rumour.

I looked him up and down, skeptical, "Why in the world would He chose you to be a guardian? And why would you accept?" Being a Guardian was like being the police of the fantasy world, nothing was done without their approval and they hounded you like a dog if you so much as spit in the wrong place, Jack was a trouble maker, he wasn't evil in his soul but he didn't have the kindest heart either. Why they chose him as a Guardian, I didn't know but the situation was laughable.

"Did you not hear about what happened with Pitch a year ago?" I rolled my eyes.

"Oh was the Bogeyman giving you all some trouble?" Jack glared at my sarcasm, Pitch was considered an evil and malicious being to the Guardians, he was their biggest threat, and if they thought that he was dangerous I would hate for them to meet a Siren.

Another large part of why Jack and I didn't get along was Jack was always a bit of a prisoner, like the other Guardians he needed people to believe in him to be seen, while I was able to seen at any moment I wanted, which allowed me to travel and interact with the world while he was alone.

"Well I thought you would, good triumphs over evil once again."

"I'm evil? What are you, Nice?" I gestured towards him, he had been on Norths Naughty list for as long as anyone could remember, and was always causing trouble. Granted he had never killed anyone, but evil comes in all shapes and forms, he enjoyed peoples agony, after all he is the creator of ice, frostbite, and hypothermia.

"I was nice enough to come meet you rather than Bunny." I narrowed my eyes at his mention of the Easter Bunny.

"What are you talking about?" Jack only smiled, and nodded behind me. I turned to see two large Yetis' but before I could react I was snatched up by the arms, and stuffed into a large sack.

"What the hell?!" The last thing I saw was Jacks smug smile as the draw string closed and I was somehow floating.

I landed on my back with a thud, I was seething mad, and it showed as my skin flared up with heat, melting the back until it was nothing but ash around me.

"Raina Ember!" North's voice boomed, I turned to look at him, Jack, Tooth, Bunny, and the sandman stood peering down at me on the floor. None looked happy to see me. "Welcome to the

North Pole, I haven't seen you in almost ten years."

"There's a reason for that." I snapped brushing the ash off me and standing up.

"I'm so happy you have come so willingly, last time we had new Guardian he froze the place!" He let out a hearty booming laugh.

"Meaning don't torch the place." Jack smiled sitting on the mantle of the large fire place.

"Did you say, the _last_ time you had a new guardian?" I looked around the room, the elves geld trumpets, the yetis' stood at attention, and the Man in the Moon was staring down at us awaiting for something to happen. "What the hell is going on?"

Tooth turned on Jack quickly. "Jack, did you not tell her?"

"No, I wanted to see her reaction when she got here." He laughed floating off the mantle.

"But the whole point for you going was to coax her into coming and gently explain the situation. So there would be no problems."

Bunny stomped over to the two in rage. "Why did we even expect him to be able to handle this. It's funny to him, everything is a game to him."

North put a large hand on Bunny's shoulder silencing him, carefully, as if I might blow up if he spoke too loudly North leaned down to look me in the eyes. "Raina, Manny has selected you as a Guardian."

I would have thought he was joking had it not been for the burst of laughter coming from Jack and the solemn but honest looks coming from everyone else in the room.

Anger. I was angry, I was as angry as I had been when they had dragged me into the courtroom four hundred years ago.

"You kidnapped me." North backed away quickly. "You held me hostage."

"Raina-"

"You bound me to a deal in which if I don't fly around every night you'll lock me up."

"Please calm down-"

"You took away my Inferno nature, you limited my powers, you took away my sword and you murdered my family!" I screamed at him, my body erupted into flames, the five guardians shielded their eyes from the heat and the room illuminated with light.

"Cool off!" Jack yelled blasting me with ice and snow, it extinguished my flames but it left me filled with more anger. His ice never really hurt, it was almost refreshing on my hot skin, the only time he really held a threat was if he were to freeze me entirely. Infernos were made with flame, if that began to extinguish then it would be painful. My eyes narrowed on North, fists clenched and steam coming off my body.

"You expect me to become a guardian, after everything you've done?"

"No we expect you to become one after everything _you've_ done." At my silence he continued. "Manny see's the good in you, the good that you can do for the children. You know the evil in this world, you could protect them, probably better than any of us."

"Whoa speak for yourself!" Bunnymund called from the other side of the room, arms crossed. He was too proud a person to ever admit that he needed help, and it was obvious that he was not in favour of having me there.

"I am the evil in this world North."

"You have not done any evil since we released you." He was an idiot, a Russian idiot, toy maker.

"We're not like your goddamned kids North, it's not like if we're good for a year we go on the nice list! We're Evil for a reason, it's down in our core, its who we are, you can't change that. I don't know if you're trying to trick me, or humiliate me but either way I'm _not_ a guardian."

North shrugged and crossed his large arms. "Manny says you are."

"Manny also created that thing over there!" I snapped pointing to Jack. North followed my gaze then settled it back on me.

"If you are guardian, the contract is dissolved." I visibly relaxed. He had to have been lying, he had to have been trying to trick me now. Even he wasn't dumb enough to give me back my abilities, the world would be in flames within the hour.

"I tell you." He continued. "If you agree to stay for one year, Contract stays intact, we still own you, but you get powers back."

"North!" The others chimed together but he held up his hand to silence them.

"You get powers, after year if you don't want to stay, I will have the contract destroyed and you are free."

Tooth buzzed over, worry on her face. "North, you can't do that. Father time-"

"Father Time has given me full control over Raina since Manny announced her Guardianship." He turned his attention back to me. "Raina, if you decided to become Guardian then you are welcome, if not, you'll be free. But one year you must stay and help, one year with no evil acts. Do we have deal?"

They had begun to protest again, but before anything could be said, my burning hand reached out and clasped his large one.

"Deal."


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Bunny had knocked over every single object off the tables in fits of rage. "Bunny!" North yelled at him. "Enough."

"You-you've got to be kidding me, you just made a deal with the devil itself mate?"

"Sold me his soul he did." I laughed from my place against the wall, Bunny turned on me anger flashing in his eyes as he stalked towards me.

"I was patient enough when Manny announced you as the new guardian, but what kind of game are you playing accepting it?" His body was tense his voice was low and his demeanour was threatening.

I gave him a sly smile. "I'm not accepting anything, but my powers being restored. Four hundred years you've had me bound to this damn contract, I'm getting out of it."

"And then do what huh? Go back to killing and terrorizing."

I scoffed at him pushing off the wall. "Don't be getting your fur in a tuff over me. Your fearless leader is the one who offered me the deal." His teeth barred in fury but he remained silent, and I couldn't help the smug look that came across my face as I pushed past him. "You going to take me to get my things back or what?"

"Raina." Tooth's soft voice came from above me as she hovered. "I think you need to fully understand what it is we do here-"

"I know what you do Tooth. What I think _you_ don't understand is what I do, the sooner you all realize that I am only here for a year and then I'm gone the better, now take me to get my powers restored now!"

North sighed, but nodded leading me out of the room, "Jack." He nodded for him to follow. He walked beside me but said nothing, it was very unlike him, I guess the guardians had tamed him quite a bit over the last year.

It was a common rumour that my sword was kept in North's workshop, a rumour that was never uncovered because his workshop was impossible to sneak into. Jack had tried on multiple

occasions that I knew, once it was actually in an attempt to steal my sword.

The Rumour was put to rest when We walked through the doors to the workshop, then to the doors of his own personal workspace.

"So this is where you've been hiding it all these years."

"Yes. And it has been quite a burden I must say." North went behind his desk, I couldn't see what he was doing but the clambering of locks and latches could be heard. With a loud bang the top of his desk came off and inside was a frosted ice box in the middle contained my sword. "Stand back."

Jack and myself took a small step away from the desk, my excitement rose up within me and I had to contain myself from jumping up and down as North pulled out a chisel and made single crack in the case.

There was a silence that filled the air, and the sound of the ice shattering was louder than any agonizing scream. The ice shattered and flew across the room, shards touched my skin but quickly melted away, I could feel the fire within me blazing because there it was.

the handle was a onyx black and the blade was as this and clear as glass but the real beauty was the fire that swelled around it after being exposed to the air.

Red, orange, pink, blue and black flame rose from its blade and trailed behind it as it was swiped through the air.

My parents had named it Bloodweep, and it had been created from fire itself, a very powerful weapon.

I inched forwards, I couldn't believe it, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life, at the times of it creation, and now. I reached out my hand and clasped the handle, it was smooth and delicate to the touch, as if I had never put it down it became an extension of my arm.

"Now, understand that your weapon is to only be used for protection."

I wasn't listening to North, I was too entranced with my sword, there was power swelling up within me.

"Careful." It was Jack who had said it, until he spoke I had forgotten that he was even in the room.

I looked up towards North a smile on my face. "My powers."

He sighed and motioned for me to follow him, as we walked he spoke to me, explaining the terms of regaining my abilities. "You will be given back enough of your light to turn into an

Inferno whenever you like, however you must be in your constant humanlike state unless you have to. Which means you must also keep your emotions in control, too much sadness, or anger and you will not be in control of your body anymore and return to your Inferno state."

We had passed through the large doors and down the hallway. It was decorated with red walls and green carpet. Framed pictures of all the Guardians graced the hallways, along with all the legends to have walked these halls. Cupid, Ground hog, all the holiday bullshit.

The last room to the left was the room I had attempted to break into too many times.

I had to willingly remove my the light within me and deposit into what looked like a mason jar, it was kept under lock and enchantment inside a large vault door.

Inside was also the centaurs hooves, and a few phoenix feathers.

The Guardians didn't defeat evil that often, but when they did they always kept those trophies and kept them in the vault.

I was about to step into the vault behind North when Jacks Staff wrapped around my waist stopping me. "Do you want me to cut that stupid stick in half?" I demanded.

"You think I'm going to let you take one step into that vault?"

I turned around to face him. "You've really lost your edge Jack Frost. You know we were all just waiting for you to kill some kid from hypothermia, or create a huge ice storm and destroy tons of lives from damages, or even cause a bunch of car crashes from slippery ice. . . . oh wait, you already did all that."

His glare set on me. "Storms are apart of life, they're apart of nature, its a natural occurrence, sometimes they happen."

"So do shipwrecks." He stared at me, his gaze turning from anger to defiance.

"I'm not like you."

"Jack you _are_ like me. You just _aren't_ me."

North returned, oblivious to any tension between Jack and I. Hovering in his hands was my light, and before he could say anything more it flew from his hands and into my body. it seeped through my nostrils, my mouth and my eyes.

It warmed my body power surged within me and I felt my entire body heating up a few degrees.

I was myself, after years, Inferno's were back.

Jack's staff released me and he had backed away, eyes wide. He was scared.

"Don't look into her eyes." North warned his own head turned. Idiots. It was obvious that they knew as much about Inferno's as humans did, from what they witnessed or read about in books.

It gave me an advantage over them, they were scared that they would fall to mercy with on look into my eyes, but the truth was that I could select who I controlled and who I didn't. "Raina, focus on letting your light fade, and contain it within you."

I knew what he wanted, he wanted me to revert back to my vulnerable state. Something that could easily be done, but something I also did not want to do.

"I can't." I told him.

"Yes you can."

I looked over at Jack who had his own eyes covered with the sleeve of his arm.

"Sorry North, but I can't do it."

"Yes you can! Just try as hard as you can."

"No." I stated. "I can't do that North. Sorry but I don't need _all_ , my strength back. I'm out of here, but because you did give me my powers back, I promise not to kill you. Yet."

Eyes still covered, North moved forwards. "Raina don't do it. If you leave we cannot protect you!"

I laughed at him. "You can't even look at me."

"Raina, think about what you're doing. If you break this contract-"

"First rule of contracts North, you actually need me to sign it. The other one said I had to relinquish my powers, and now that I have them back. . . . Well you're gonna have to catch me."

"We will kill you!" Jack yelled at me.

"Good luck." And with that I flew to the ceiling my sword cutting its way through the building and out into the frigid cold air.

I was free. And had a lot of things to catch up on.


	4. Chapter 4

Freedom. Hundreds of years of being monitored, shackled to a contract that had practically made me human aside from being able to fly, and now I was free to do what I was made to do.

I knew that North and Jack and all the others would be after me in a few hours with the same hoard that killed my family but it made no difference to me. Let them chase me, let them waste their time coming after me, I wasn't going be come one easy to find.

I don't think, I had been out of the walls of the North Pole more than five minutes when I felt something crash into my back throwing my flight off course. It hurt, and sent me falling a few feet towards the ground.

"Are you actually shooting at me frost!?" I demanded looking around the sky for him. It had to be him, he was the only one who could fly through these skies and actually cause some kind of damage to me. The sky had darkened with clouds, a wonderful hiding spot for him to cower behind and avoid my eyes and my wrath.

"You always were a coward Frost, come out and face me instead of hiding behind some clouds." There was no answer but another single ball of ice that came hurtling from above towards me.

It missed and went flying towards the human world below.

"Alright then Jack, lets see if being a Guardian has made you stronger. Catch me if you can." I took off then, there was a reason I was given the role of a shooting star, the fire that I could conjure and my speed.

I couldn't see Jack but I knew he was following close behind me as we darted through the sky.

"You can't fly forever!" His voice rang out, I turned on my back, and sure enough he was there peering down at me avoiding my eyes as best as he could and looking at my neck rather than my face as he spoke.

"Who said I was going to?" I stopped myself then and went hurtling towards the human world, hitting the pavement with a harsh force, jamming my sword into the ground as I did so. Jack followed, landing a few feet away from me.

"You can't do this Raina. You'll be hunted, killed-"

"I'm not stupid Jack." I reminded him. "I know I am going to be hunted. However, as for being killed. . . you all had your chance."

Jack, in anger pointed his staff at me. "I swear I will kill you where you stand if-" He stopped as I let out my breath slowly and returned to my vulnerable, North given state. "What are you-"

"Jack Frost?" A small voice asked. Jack looked behind him to see a small girl looking outside of an opened bedroom window. We were in the driveway of someone's home, someone who happened to believe in Jack Frost, someone whose mind was still innocent enough to be manipulated and filled with wondrous stories. Since the Guardians had defeated Pitch, their tales had become more popular than ever and the amount of children that believed was also stronger than ever. "It is you!" A large smile appeared on the young girls face and she quickly darted from the window.

"Go on Jack. Kill me." I smiled a wicked smile at him just as the front door clicked open and the young girl came running to give Jack a hug.

"So this is the game you're playing?" He demanded as pulled the girl behind him.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Raina, sweetheart. Raina Ember."

"Hi! I'm Sarah."

I looked at Jack who had a twisted hatred on his face that I had never seen on someone before. "Go ahead, Kill me."

"What? No! Don't kill her!" Sarah cried tugging on his pants.

"Do it!" I challenged him hands in the air, away from my sword I taunted him. "Go ahead Frost! Kill me! Send me to the grave with the rest of the family that you murdered!"

"I didn't kill your family!" Jack snapped, pointing his staff at me again earning a small shriek from the girl behind him. "North and the guardians did, and for good reason!"

"Did you hear that Sarah? Santa. . . Santa killed my family. Him and the tooth fairy and the easter bunny and the sandman, and father time and Cupid-"

"Stop it!" Jack yelled at me.

"They murdered my family, and now Jack is planning on doing the same to me."

Her little eyes widened, and filled with tears as she continued to tug on Jack's legs."Jack you can't! Don't!"

I waited, and within a few moments Jack lowered his staff in defeat at the sight of a small girl in tears at the idea of this boy killing someone in front of her. He couldn't do it, he was soft, I could very well torch her home and leave her family a screaming mess of ash and flames and he wouldn't attack me from fear of traumatizing this little girl.

"That's what I thought. Remember this Jack, they can see me, they all can see me and what ever you do to me, they'll see it. I don't think you're afraid to do it, but the difference is you don't want everyone to know that you're willing to kill someone. I have that over you. That and so many other things Jack. Remind North of it, would you?"

I was backing away, from him and his glare, and the crying girl who buried her face into Jack's pants and held on tight.

I grinned as I backed away from him, ice was beginning to spread along the ground proving just how angry he was, but then his expression changed and his eyes held worry, rather than hate.

Sarah's face peaked out from hiding in Jack's legs and a small Screech left her mouth.

Slinking along the ground was a some kind go black smoke, oozing from seemingly nowhere. It curled and seeped along the ground encasing my legs and twisting up to my torso, then seemed to grasp me, it took ahold of me and I was then being pulled away from the scene.

Had I not known who it was, I would have thought I was being kidnapped, but in fact I was being rescued.

Rescued from someone that happened to owe me a favour.

I was ripped away from Jack and Sarah, leaving Sarah in a terrified and frantic state that Jack desperately tried to console, where as I was taken only a few blocks away, inside an alley which I was thrown to the ground in a heap of flames.

"Now. We're even." I stood from the ground, dusting myself off and turned to look at the one person I was actually hoping might have disappeared.

"We're not even. I didn't need your help." I told him.

Pitch stood before me, weak, broken, and in desperate need of help. It wasn't uncommon for evil beings to team up and help one another, but no one was willing to help the boogieman.

Like the guardians he needed children to believe in him in order to be powerful, and it caused a lot of issues. He had been in debt to my family since 1967 when he was being chased by the

Guardians and came to a number of inferno's seeking refuge and assistance. To say the least, he got away, but his debt to my family never disappeared because we never sought him out for help.

"What are you even thinking doing that? Now Jack knows that you're still here."

"He thinks I left?"

I shrugged. "Not anymore. They've been acting like they defeated you, sent you to some kind of hole at the end of the earth never to return."

He chuckled. "Do they really believe that?"

"Well if they did, they don't anymore. You've been missing for a year, hiding for a year and your just gave up whatever plan you had brewing, just to help me when I didn't need it?"

"I wasn't saving you from Jack Frost." He sneered at the name. "I was saving you from that!" He pointed a gnarled and twisted finger to the sky. Above was a swarm, they almost looked like buzzards the way they circled the air, but there seemed to be hundreds, looking more like a whirlpool of black than birds. "Do you see that?"

"What is that?"

"Those happen to be the vampires." I looked away from the swarm to look Pitch in the eyes. "They're looking for you sweetheart."

"Why?"

"And not just them." He stated. "The Sirens, the Spriggan, Gremlins, even the Bugbear is looking for you. Everyone." It was an array of creatures that were apart of a much different world

than Pitch and the guardians were apart of.

Almost every mythical creature ever documented, existed, but that didn't mean that they all interacted. Vampires and Cupid never crossed paths, and the Mermaids were rarely ever seen interacting with werewolves. They were all apart of different realms and had different roles and interests in the world, it was just like how a polar bear and a giraffe would never meet, they belonged to different parts of the world and would only meet if something brought them together.

"Why?" I asked looking back to the sky where the swarm was now moving on, having not found what they were looking for.

Pitch moved at lightning speed, his cold and pale face only an inch away from mine, black, dead eyes stared into mine. "Do you know what happens when the devil leaves hell?"

"I'm not the devil." I told him.

"You're the closest thing we have. And the answer to that question is, not a damn thing happens when you leave, other than, order is restored, your family caused more chaos than anyone else and once you left everyone else became a lot more powerful. Now what happens when the devil comes back? The apocalypse." I pulled away from him, he was talking nonsense. "Think about it. Everyone has forgotten about you. When you suddenly show up you are going to throw the world into complete hell, no one is going to know whats going on and you are going to terrify this world and make all of us a lot weaker. They won't be scared of the boogieman or the bloodsucking vampires, they're gonna be scared of the fire wielding devil."

So either they were looking to kill me, or have me join them, that was the only reason they would be after me. It must have been why I was chosen as a guardian, once my powers were restored, I was going to be powerful, and it was better to have me on their side than off it.

"Is this your attempt in having me team up with you for something?" Pitch smiled, but shook his head.

"No. All I want is the debt to be repaid, you've been warned, debt is repaid." It was a statement rather than a question, but if what he was telling me was true then he may have saved my life.

"Fine. But only if this is the last time I will ever see you again."

His smile grew. Pitch was not the most loveable person, even for villain standards, he upset a lot of people, children tended to be scared of what they had nightmares about, and since he had control over nightmares, well lets just say he was given too much power.

The situation was more complicated then I thought it was going to be. Inferno's hadn't been active in years, there was going to be a lot of controversy about when I returned. He was right,

Chaos would come underway as fires randomly started burning ships and fishermen began to die. Religious leaders would have a field days with it, and it wouldn't take long before the only thing people were terrified of was this unnatural act.

Pitch shook my hand, his hand was cold, but not like Jack's, it was dead. As fast as he had appeared, he was gone, off to his little realm to hide from the guardians for a few more weeks.

I decided that it was time for me do to the same thing, setting my realm on fire would let everyone know that I was back and alive. If they wanted me they could come find me.


	5. Chapter 5

Four days had passed since my encounter with Pitch, and I had spent the time in my own realm, bringing it back to life. The sky was a beautiful streak of orange, red and pink, and the ground was make of black smouldering rock, that stretched out for miles and into mountains. It smelt of burning wood, and the only thing missing was the many Inferno homes that had been turned to ash.

I awoke on the fifth day with a hand around my throat.

My realm wasn't the hardest place to get into, it had been around forever and because of that, almost everyone knew how to get here it was just that no one really ever took the chance of arriving at the fiery place and leaving alive.

The person holding my throat had a finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet, but I had absolutely no idea who he was. I pushed him off me sat up reaching for my sword.

"There's no need for that." He said simply, he looked to be about 30 in mortal years but there was no guessing how old someone actually was.

He held no weapon, he had no powers radiating off of him, and frankly I didn't recognize him from the leagues of the good or bad. "I can't fight you off even if I tried."

He was a good looking being, he looked mortal for the most part with blonde hair and blue eyes, he had a charming smile, but his eyes held so many years of wisdom and teachings.

"What are you?" I asked him.

"Nothing anymore." He said simply. "I came here to tell you something."

"Get out."

He sighed, he was distressed and annoyed with me, he was frustrated and clearly just wanted to leave, so why didn't he? It was then that I recognized him, he was the only mythical being to ever have quit.

He was the Baby New Year the year my family was murdered.

It was custom for the baby to age all through the year until finally ending as an old man, when the next year is to begin then he would pass on his duties and title to the next Baby.

But he quit, and it was the moment when the world was at a disadvantage, part of his duties was to bring forth the new, create new life in everything he touched, and to keep the world in

balance, as he aged the year continued, the moment he quit there was a moment in time when the world came to a pause.

The human world stopped for a moment and when the human world stopped many people who needed humans to believe in them became weaker, but it also broke our world away from the humans.

If the human world didn't continue ours would cease to exist. It was like another dimension, ours couldn't continue without theres.

I stood, snatching my sword as I did, "You have a lot of nerve coming here."

"You can't kill me." he reminded me. "But believe me if you could, I would have come looking for you a long time ago." He happened to be one of the creatures that couldn't die, after her quit his aging ceased to continue, if he had finished his year he would have been granted the ability to end his life whenever he deemed fit.

"I can't kill you, but you can still feel pain."

"I'm trying to help you!" He snapped at me. "You actually think I would come here on any other account?"

"If history serves me right, the only other time you have come here was when my family was murdered."

"Is it murder if it's justice?"

I swung my sword at him, it sliced his arm, it was like hitting a solid impenetrable wall, but it left a large black crack across his shoulder which he grasped in pain and screamed.

The moment the world paused, the Guardians became weaker, but my family couldn't function, and because of it everyone migrated back to our realm, which is when the Guardians decided to strike earlier than planned.

My family didn't need for the humans to believe in us in order to survive, however, our entire existence was entirely based on theirs. So long as there were humans, our flames remained lit, our powers were strong and our lights burned bright.

"I'm here to warn you!" He screamed in agony.

I held my sword out to him. "Why?"

"To attempt and repay my debt. I'm sorry about what happened to your family, I didn't know what would happen if I quit I just assumed that my duties would go to a previous New Year's

Man. I didn't know they were planning on killing your family."

"You were here!"

"They had me in handcuffs, kept me in the same cell block as you!" I didn't know whether or not to believe him. He straightened letting go of his arm which had already healed, the crack has

closed itself off and he was no longer in pain. "I don't agree with what they did to your family. Other creatures cause havoc and pain but no one does anything about them. Raina, I'm here to warn you, everyone wants you alive or dead, and frankly dead happens to be the easier option."

"What's your point?"

"You have to go back to the guardians." I wanted to crack my sword across his skull, I wanted to throw him from my realm and send him back to the gutter which he came from. "Your half mortal state that they put you in makes you vulnerable, you have your powers back, but you are only half as strong as you used to be. If you stay here you'll be dead in a few days, either the Guardians are going to come and get you or the rest of the creatures will, and you will not be able to fight them off."

"I'm not scared of them."

"You don't have to be to die. The Guardians are the only ones that are able to keep you alive. There have been numerous attacks on them and they are still living, they are the strongest group that we have. Your family used to be and look at what they did to them."

The option was to go back to the Guardians, or to stay here, fight and more than likely die. I had wished I died with my family for years, but I wasn't ready to die now, not when I was finally powerful again.

"I'm sorry that my actions had a part in what got your family killed, and I don't like the Guardians for what they did to me either, but if I can save you, it makes the situation a little bit better."

I hated it, I hated the idea that they were the only thing that could keep me alive for the time being.

The only other choice was kill them before they can kill me, and there was no way I could kill all the Guardians in my half breed state, and certainly not alone, he was right. The only option was to go back, I had been to hasty and impulsive with my choice, and I had to go back.

"if you do go back though, promise me one thing?"

"What?" I asked wringing my sword in my hands like a cloth.

"When you get your powers back, kill that stupid bouncing Jackrabbit."

Raina smiled at him, not her seductive and engaging smile that Inferno's had, it was her genuine, real smile.

"No worries, he's not at the top of my list. But he's definitely on it."


End file.
